Take a picture: it's a happy Democrat

Apparently I'm supposed to be very worried and depressed because I'm a Democrat and the Republicans regained control over the House of Representatives on Tuesday. I'm not. 'Bye, Alan Grayson, you nutball. Sorry, hot mob banker. There are even some Dems I'd have liked to see ousted - if you know any Republicans who aren't all "Let's outlaw Spanish!" I'd even vote for them. The only election result that truly disappointed me was Russ Feingold's loss in Wisconsin, but even that wasn't a shock.

Here's the thing... it was two years ago today that Barack Obama won the presidency. On that day, how many people predicted what happened Tuesday? Ok, anyone with a grasp of history knew that the House would swing back at vety the least, but my point is that a lot can change in two years. The House in particular is like the skin on a chameleon - super-reactionary because its entire membership turns over every other year. Just ask Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who were both re-elected after getting shellacked in the midterms only two years earlier. So don't write off Obama. He's still more popular than Congress.

I might be the only Democrat in America who thinks - or at least will admit to thinking - that this is a good thing. Obama is nowhere close to the far-left radical he's been painted as being. And now that House Republicans can plausibly take credit for anything good that happens for the next two years, I predict that we're going to see more cooperation, not less.

So Mitch McConnell should really lay off the "our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office" stuff, unless he's secretly on the DNC's attack ad-production team. Because if Tuesday's vote show anything, it's that this kind of bickering is exactly what Americans DON'T want. We aren't married to one party or another, we just want our country to work again. (Also, the Republicans salivating over the chance to start investigating anything would do well to remember the 1998 midterms, or, as I like to call it, the "We Don't Care Who Blew the President" election.)

While the federal government can't force banks to give credit or businesses to invest or expand, they can set policy that makes it easier and safer to do these things. Instead of name-calling, build roads and light rail systems and invest in tech education. Forget 2012 and think about 2062 for a second.

So I'm not too worried about the national scene. On a state level, though, I'm kind of wary. Democrats have controlled N.C.'s legislature for 112 years, and while changing power can be an opportunity for new ideas, the state Republicans don't particularly inspire me.